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1959 Duo-Glide refinish project Hi-Fi Turquoise
- 1959 Harley-Davidson Duo-Glide Hi-Fi Turquoise.
- Metal work
- 1959 Duo-Glide Hi-Fi Turquoise. The front fender needed a lot of TLC, the rear fender has been hit on the side and from the back in two different accidents requiring considerable attention. Everything has now been restored to factory condition. This is an attractive paint scheme, very few Hi-Fi Turquoise duo-glides exist. I searched for over a year to find an acceptable survivor to reference while building this color. Antique motorcycles have become an investment, appreciating faster than stocks, when properly researched and restored. Besides, where can you show your investments off to your friends, or go out for a Sunday ride. Like the adds from the thirties said, "A smile every mile". Try doing that with stocks...
Replacement front fender with the contour back in shape properly fit to a duo-glide fender tip.
This is the rear fender with the spacer brazed to the inside of the fender. Brass and spacer had to be removed.
Inside of front fender, numerous tears and cracks on the nose.
Grinding all the brass that’s accessible.
Left side brass removed.
Welding extra holes on the rear fender, under the trim, which was also cracked, and around the taillight.
Right rear, sandblasted remaining brass.
Left side blasted.
Rear fender wear hole and taillight with several small rot holes.
All parts sand blasted to look for any other potential problems to weld.
Note big hole and spacers after removing the brass.
Butt weld patch in place awaiting final weld.
There were 2 tears in the fender on each side of the hinge.
Fender patches complete.
Test fit fender on a duo-glide frame, this is done prior to welding spacers back into place.
Fender fit done.
Welding tears and cracks on the front fender.
Circled holes have to be welded shut, a duo-glide emblem has 3 pins.
Make pattern from an original duo-glide fender.
holes welded shut.
Obviously a very late fender, it also has a different place for the front brake line anchor, it’s on the left side, I don’t think anyone will notice, it’s two inches higher on the fender.
Transfer for drilling.
All trim fit to the front fender.
Please note steel rivets installed for the brackets.
- Paint work
- 1959 Duo-Glide Hi-Fi Turquoise. Part 2 - Paint Work
Silver base coat on tanks.
Silver base coat on the inside of fenders.
First coat of hi-fi Turquoise. the silver is still visable through the hi-fi color coat.
Having first done a let down panel to determine the number of color coats (center of photo) the insides of the fenders are done. The outsides have been masked to prevent overspray.
Clear coat applied to the tanks. Here is an instance in wich a picture is a poor representative of color. The tanks look blue, but are actually turquoise. Overhead lights also change your color perception.
Insides of fenders cleared and done. The hinged rear fender was a great idea, But always damages the finish on the hinge. To avoid damaging the painted hinge on the rear fender, I install tires from the bottom up, like a new bike would.
The gas tank on the right has been sanded prior to the Birch white flash panel. Each step is preceded by remasking all items to avoid paint buildup or bridging of the paint over the tape which tears the paint away, meaning re-do.
Tanks have been masked. Absolutely every seam must be taped shut to prevent birch white from contaminating the turquoise surface. However, with clear coat on the turquoise, any mistakes are fixable. Without the clear, one mistake means starting with the silver again.
The Satin sheen on the tanks in this photo is a product I make to seal down my tape edge to prevent the birch white from bleeding under the tape, a trick I learned when I painted yachts.
First coat of birch white.
Birch white finished, but not cleared.
Gas tanks Finished.
A great deal of care is taken not to bury the birch white edge under clear. On a restored motorcycle you need to be able to feal where the white meets the main color.
Outside of the fenders ready for the silver base coat followed by hi-fi- turquoise. The silver fills NO scratches, so this finish coat was prepared with 800 grit paper.
The insides of the fenders have been masked to prevent overspray. This also prevents debris from the insides of the fenders getting on the outsides of the fenders. On a hi-fi color, ANY contaminant shows through.
One coat of hi-fi turquoise on the fender. The silver is still visible.
4 coats of hi-fi Turquoise.
Fenders cleared. The factory actually mixed two hi-fi colors together to make hi-fi Turquoise.
All panels cleared and unmasked. they will be wet-sanded with 2000 grit paper, buffed, and polished. A great deal of effort is made not to bury the rivitt heads on the fenders. I will wait 2 weeks before pakaging these parts for shipping to avoid the pakaging from printing on the fresh clear.
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1959 Duo-Glide Hi-Fi Turquoise
